Tag Archives: History

Everyone in amateur radio, those in the military and those who are history buffs may already know this…but I had to do a little research to confirm something I read on Facebook and it was true read on.

Samuel F. B. MorseArtist/Inventor (1791-1872).

Samuel F.B. Morse was an accomplished painter before he invented the telegraph and changed the way the world communicated. After a mediocre showing at Phillips Academy, save for a strong interest in art, his parents sent him to Yale College. Samuel’s record at Yale wasn’t much better, though he found interest in lectures on electricity and focused intensely on his art.

“Morse worked with several British masters and the respected American artist Benjamin West at the Royal Academy. Morse adopted a “romantic” painting style of large, sweeping canvases portraying heroic biographies and epic events in grand poses and brilliant colors.”

In the decade between 1825 and 1835, grief transformed to opportunity for Samuel Morse. In February 1825, after giving birth to their third child, Lucretia died. Morse was away from home working on a painting commission when he heard his wife was gravely ill, and by the time he arrived home, she had already been buried. The next year Morse’s father died, and his mother passed three years later. Deep in grief, in 1829 Morse traveled to Europe to recover. On his voyage home, in 1832, he met the inventor Charles Thomas Jackson, and the two got into a discussion about how an electronic impulse could be carried along a wire for long distances. Morse immediately became intrigued and made some sketches of a mechanical device that he believed would accomplish the task.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate
Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort me and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend or stranger.
Let us Pray.
May the Strength of God guide us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Angels of God guard us.
– Against the snares of the evil one.

May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!

Today is St. Patrick’s Feast Day. Maewyn Succat was born in 385 AD and died on March 17th, 461AD, he is buried in Down Cathedral in Downpatrick Ireland.

Saint Patrick was Italian by heritage. His parents, Calphurnius and Conchessa, were Roman (Italian) citizens living in Britain, most likely Scotland. Calpurnius, Patrick’s father, was a high ROMAN diplomat living in England, but a Roman citizen. His area was captured at one point by the Irish and he was forced into slavery. At 21 years old, he escaped slavery. He made it back to Rome to find that most of the Roman empire had been lost. After some time, he felt that God was calling him back to Ireland. He spent 10 years in France studying religion when the Pope (Celestine) made him a Bishop. He later became known as the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated every March 17.

He is not only the patron saint of Ireland but also many other countries as well as the patron saint of:

fear of snakes

ophidiophobia

against snake bites

barbers

barrel makers

blacksmiths

cattle

coopers

engineers

excluded people

hairdressers

miners

Please remember we are still in the Holy Season of Lent and there is no dispensation given for eating meat today. Have your corn beef tomorrow, there are many good St. Patrick’s Day fish recipes for today.

I offer you an old Irish blessing. May ye be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows ye are dead! Happy St. Patrick’s Day.